BEIJING, October 20. /TASS/. The US Defense Department's report on China's military capabilities disregards facts and creates a false impression about the supposed nuclear threat from China, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

"This US report, like previous ones, is nonfactual and biased," she said at a press briefing. "For any country, as long as they do not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against China, they have nothing to worry about being threatened by China’s nuclear weapons," she added.

She also emphasized that China "is firmly committed to a defensive nuclear strategy and has always kept nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required by national security." "China urges the US to abandon the Cold War mentality and hegemonic logic, view China’s strategic intention and defense development in an objective and rational way and stop issuing this kind of irresponsible annual report so as to keep mil-to-mil and overall relations stable between China and the US," Mao Ning added.

The Pentagon earlier submitted a report on China's military capabilities to the US Congress, which claims that China's nuclear arsenal includes more than 500 operationally deployed warheads, and that number could exceed 1,000 by 2030.